Tile for furnace grates of the checkerboard type



C. V. TURNER. TILE, FUR FURNACE GRATES OF THE CHECKERBOARD TYPE-APPLICATION FILED APR.4, 1921.

1,437,328. P te te N v. 28, 1922.

UN TED Patented Na. 28, 1922.

PATENT OFFICE,

donation vnnnon'roanna, or BAnrow, FLORIDA.

'rlnn roe unniest". eaa 'rns or cnnoknnnoaian TYPE.

. f Application filed April 4, 19 21". Serial Nb. 458360,

T0 all whom it ma concern-w Be it known that/"I, CLAUDE VERNoN. Truman,a citizen of the United States, residing at Bartow, county of Polk,State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful ImprovementsinTiles for Furnace Grates ofthe Checkerboard Type; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and; exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which" itappertains to make and use "the same. I i i i This invention relates toagrate construction ofthe stationary type, and particularly to aspecially designed tile'or brick of refractory material for su.clia"grate, said grate being primarily intended'ior use in a furnacefired with-crude or fuel oils or any'other liquid or gaseous fuel) jIn'the most widely used types of oil burning furnaces, the combustionchamber "and ash p-it are separated by means of a checkerwork made ofcommon fire brick, said brick being substantially rectangular in shape,set on edge, with the ends thereof supported upon horizontally disposedpipes or bars, the pipes or bars being generally arranged in pairs, and,the ends of each brick overlapping one of the pipes of each pair instaggered relation throughout the grate construction, in a 'mannersimilar to the squares on a checkerboard, by which name this type ofgrate is commonly known.

The object of placing the brick in this manner is to distribute theairlevenly over the bottom of the furnace" so as to formia more intimatemixture with the atomized oil or gas and thus promote a more eflicientcombustion. At thesame time it affords a very easy and simple way ofregulating or changing thesarea'of air opening to'conforme the amount ofoilronsurned, it havingbeen found that infpractice the best results areobtained with fromitwo to four square, inches" of air opening per horsepower of boiler, depending upon how much Y overload it is desired'tocarry on the boiler.

"With the construction as above described, it willbe noted that in eachair space there is a portion of the pipe exposed to the flame, which isvery liable to become ever heated and allow the pipe to sag down,causingthe ultimate collapse of the grate. It will also be noted thatthe bricks are not held in position in either direction, that is,

they can slide endwise and fall betweenthe "pipes 1-, they can, eitherslide or tip over sideways, causing obvious difficulties and inherentdisadvantages. Attempts have been made to hold the brick in position byadding a small wedge-shaped piece of the clay on top of the exposed pipeatthe end of each brick, but this has been found tobe ineflicient, assaid fire clay soon becomes broken and crumbles away. 5

Another disadvantage of the type of grate above described will beapparent upon thestarting up of furnaces of -the oil burning type in'themanner usually employechat i which time it becomesnecessary tobuild awood fire on the grate in order to raise steam enough to atomize the oiland start combustion, if no other steam is available. Under thesecircumstances it is almost impossible to throw wood in upon these brickin this type of furnace grate without displacing the bricks comprisingsaid grate and thus exposing the pipes to the action of the flame andcausing the whole grate to collapse into the ash pit. "Workmen enteringthe fur nace for the purpose of repairs will also displace these bricksin a similar manner. c On account of thedifliculty'of maintaining thechecker-work made of common brick, other typesof grate have beenresorted to, but none gives the desired results of the true checkerboardtype of grate." It is the object of this invent-ion to overcome thevarious defec ts as above noted, which has been accomplishedby aspecially designed tile, whereby said tile will not only be maintainedina set position but the ends of each tile will also completely cover thesupporting pipes, usually employed in this type of grate, when saidtiles are, arranged 'to'form a complete, grate. f In the accompanyingdrawings, Fig. 1 represents diagrammatically an oil burning furnaceprovided with the improved typeo1 grate; "1 a 2 is an enlargedplan viewillustrating the means ofassembling the tile upon the supportingpi'pesin overlappedrelation.

provided with the customary ejector nozzle conventionally illustrated atl. Supported upon the pipes or bars 2, in staggered overlapped relation,are a series of specially de signed tiles or bricks 5 of refractorymaterial. These bricksare preferably beveled at their opposite ends asat 6, and are placed on edge upon the pipes or bars 2, the said bricksbeing of sufficient length so that each end thereof will rest upon andcover the adjacent pairs of doublyarranged pipes. As hereinbeforestated,the b'icks are placed staggered and overlapped relation, as clearlyshown in Fig. 2, whereby the pipes will not only be completely covered,but said bricks will support each other against any tilting action ordisplacement longitudinally oi the pipes. I

In order to anchor the bricks and prevent any endwise movement thereofduring the use and operation of the grate, said bricks are constructedwith a downwardly projecting intermediate portion 7 adapted to engagesubstantially the innersides of the adjacent pipes, It is of courseto beunderstood that this may be a single depending portion projectingdownwardly between the supporting bars, or it may be made with twoprojections so placed as to accomplish the same purpose.

lVith the construction as above described, it will be noted that thetilewill be prevented from moving endways by the portion or portionsprojecting downwardly between the supporting pipes or bars, and alsothat theends of said tile projecting over both pipes will prevent anyportion of said pipes from being exposed to the action of the flames,these ends being placed in overlapped relation also preventing said tilefrom turning over sideways, as hereinbefore stated.

It is also to be noted that the ends of the tile do not have to bebeveled, but the bev eled construction is preferred for by reason of thebeveled construction, when the grate is assembled, the air openingsproduced will be in the form of diverging nozzles, allowing the air toenter the furnace with less velocity than if the openings were in thesame crosssection from top to bottom of the grate, causing less tendencyfor the flame to be blown upwards against the top of the furnace.

With a grate assembled and constructed withjthe specific type of-tile,as hereinbetore described, all of the advantages of a checkerboard gratecan be obtained with none of the disadvantages inherent in the commontype of checkerboard grate as heretofore constructed. 7

What I claim is: r

1. A tile or brick for grates, the transverse width or thickness thereofbeing uniform from end to end of said brick, relatively long undercutbottom edge portions adapted to rest on appropriate supports to form agrate and prevent accidental endwise movements of the brick, saidrelatively long under-cut end portions permitting a series of bricks tobe placed in side overlapping staggered relation in constructingthegratepand at the same time completely cover and protect said supportsfrom the fire generated above said grate.

2. A tile or brick for grates of the checkerboard type, the transversewidth or thickness of said brick being uniform from end to end thereof,relatively long under-cut bottom edge portions formed therein adapted torest on appropriatesupports to form a grate and prevent accidentalendwise movements of the brick, said relatively long un der-cut endportions being of such length as to permit a series of bricks to,beplaced in side over-lapping staggered relation in constructing thegrate, completely covering and protecting said supports from the firegenerated above said grate, withoutadditional filling material, and atthe same time providing the necessa-r T draft between said bricks. I

3. In a grate construction of the checkerboard type, the combinationwith a series of parallel arranged supporting members, of a series ofbricks oi refractory material adapted to be positioned on saidsupporting members in staggered relation, and means carried by thebricks for preventing the accidental displacement thereof.

4. In a grate construction of the checkerboard type, the combinationwith a series of doubly arranged parallel supporting pipes or the like,of a series of bricks ot refractory material adapted to be positioned onsaid supporting pipesin staggered overlapping relation, each brickhavingits opposite supporting end portions undercut, forming seats for saidpipes, and providing a downwardly projecting intermediate portionengaging the pipes to prevent accidental endwise movements of saidbrick, each undercutportion being of sufficient length to span or coverboth ofits adjacent supporting pipes, and thus producing the sideoverlapping o'l. said bricks and preventing the tilting or turning. overthereo' 4 In testimony whereof I .aifix my signature.

CLAUDE, VERNON Tommie.

